the next generation
by nelmari
Summary: new students to a new school. there they meet the powerless girl who ends up to be called the next geniration in superbeings.
1. Chapter 1

Sky high #2: the next generation.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sky high, just my characters and situations.

A/N: it's been along time. I have to say I thought I'd never come back but here I am.

The first time I saw Natalie was on our first day of high school. We were at Sky High and had already gone through the dividing between hero and sidekick and it was lunchtime. My two friends – Pete and Will – were in the boys room and I went ahead to get a table in the cafeteria. They were all occupied accept for two that had only two individual occupants. The one was engaged by Blake the fire-starter – a very frightening and evil-looking senior. Natalie sat at the other table and she was harmless so I took a chance and asked if I could sit with her. She had studied me carefully before agreeing.

"Winnie Step" I introduced myself.

"Natalie Hunter" she returned and shook my hand. She met my friends and since that day we enjoyed our lunches together.

As time went by we learned that Natalie didn't have any power – which was strange because she went to Sky High and you can't get in there if you don't have any powers. So we gathered that her powers still needed to be developed. We became great friends and whenever we needed help with any school work, Natalie helped.

"Nat, that dude is watching you like a hawk!" Pete said one day at lunch. We turned and saw Blake staring angrily at Natalie.

"That's nothing new," Natalie said and returned to her food.

"What's his problem?" I asked.

"I don't know. He always does that. Have you never noticed? It's like that everyday." Natalie said. "His name is Blake Zeelie. He's a fire-starter – a hero – and in my grade. He's done that ever since I could remember. It's like he has some vendetta against me."

"He looks scary. Like he could burn you with his eyes." Will stated.

"He's trying" Natalie finished and the bell rang.

Another time, between classes, I turned a corner and found Nat and Blake at each other's throats. A crowd had gathered to watch the fight but it was quickly broken up by a teacher. That seemed to happen a lot, according to other students. I wondered what it was about.

There is this tradition in Sky High, called Gladiator – simple enough and it described it perfectly. All the older students were lined up to fight one-on-one on an obstacle course unlike any other. We all sat around the gym and watched as games were won and lost. Students were allowed to use their powers except to kill of course. The last match was – to our surprise – between Nat and Blake. It seemed unfair, since Natalie had no powers but the teachers allowed it. She stepped onto the obstacle course and he walked in on the other side. What surprised me most was that Nat wasn't even scared. It looked like she was excited.

Blake fired up and threw a fire ball at Nat and she dodged it. He threw her with fire and she kept running around and dodged it. After a while I noticed that they were screaming at each other but the sound was muffled by the loud noises of the moving obstacles. Nat jumped on one of the 'catwalks' that moved into the air and Blake jumped up after her. As the thin bridge balanced and swayed under them, they yelled at each other. We couldn't hear anything of course but it seemed that they were very angry. The catwalk lopsided quite suddenly and Nat slipped along it to Blake's side. He had grabbed onto the bars but when she bumped into him, his hands slid off and they fell to the ground. Blake wrapped his arms around her to protect her but instead of shielding her from the horizontal bar beneath them, they turned around in mid air and she fell on the bar with her back breaking at the hard force. And with him on top of her, the force was even harder. Then they fell the rest of the way to the solid ground and again he fell fully on her body.

Blake jumped up and told her to get up.

"I can't move" she said – this we heard because the machinery was shut down the minute they fell from the height of forty feet. Blake picked her up and carried her none too gently out of the gym. We followed behind and found them in the nurse's office. He was busy bending back the bones of her back and it sounded extremely painful. At the last motion, Natalie shouted out of pain and then he dropped her to the bed. Before anyone could say anything, Blake said to Nat: "I'm the only one in the world who understands you!" and left.

A/N: I know it's short but it's all I have time for now. Please read and review.


	2. Chapter 2

Sky high #2: the next generation.

Chapter 2

My friends and I had a project to do and we asked Nat to help us. She agreed and we arranged that everyone came to my house the following Friday but since my parents went to a hero conference for the entire weekend, we arranged that we went to Nat's place. My mother asked her mother whether I could stay over until my parents returned from the conference and she allowed it. It was rather exciting to go over to Nat's house, we had never gone over there and it was a big mystery.

After school we went right over and started with our project. We met Emily, (Nat's mother) and something began to puzzle me. The thing was that Natalie had soft, silky red hair while her mother had bushy brown hair. Nat's eyes were a bright green color while her mother's were dull brown. Natalie was built small like a ballerina and her mother was tall and strong-looking, like a super hero. And I had never noticed Nat's bleak white skin until she stood next to her mother with a normal everyday-tan. I guess I never noticed anything about Nat accept her attitude and great personality. After we finished the project, the boys went home and we had dinner. Natalie's mother got ready for work then the two of us were left alone in the house.

"I want to do something crazy, are you game?" she asked suddenly.

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know, let's just go somewhere."

"Natalie! Tell me where?"

"Let's go down to Red Moon. I hear they have a 'super' band playing tonight. What do you say?"

"Are we allowed in?" I had to know.

"Yes. There're no restrictions, anyone can go there. Come on Winnie please!"

So we agreed. We changed into funkier clothes and got into her car. Before I knew it we walked into the club. I have to admit, the place didn't look bad at all, and the music was in fact great.

The band consisted of five members who had all once been sidekicks. But none the less, they were great. After a while Nat offered to go get us drinks. She was gone for a long time so I went to look for her. And to my surprise I found her with Blake. His usually-tied-back-hair was hanging loose and fell in waves to his chin. He was wearing dark make-up (a Goth-look) and he looked more evil than ever.

Natalie turned her back on him but he grabbed her arm and yanked her back. She pulled her arm from his grip and turned to leave. Blake had seen me first and that was why he loosened his grip on her. When Nat turned and saw me she stopped in her tracks and took a breath.

"I'm tired. Let's go" she said as she pushed a coke bottle into my hands. After one more glance in Blake's direction, we left.

"What was that about?" I asked in the car.

"Nothing!" she said.

"Natalie…"

"Just leave it, please." She pleaded and I let it be.

The rest of the weekend was fun. Natalie usually went for a jog in the mornings and she invited me along on Saturday and Sunday. We had pancakes for breakfast and were on our own for lunch. We lounged in the house and around the pool and watched movies in the evening. Sunday afternoon my parents picked me up and as we drove away I noticed Blake standing behind one of the trees. That guy was scary – and to think he didn't raise one hair on Natalie's head.

Monday morning Natalie was in a damned mood. The only thing I could tie it with was what I had seen when I left the previous day. The next day it was time for Gladiator again. Since the last match between Blake and Natalie was cut short, they were listed first. Again they walked onto the floor and Blake fired up. This time they stayed on the grown and didn't yell. But at one time Blake said something to Natalie and she froze. A minute later she ran forward and grabbed his fiery hands and shoved him against the wall. I thought she was going to burn by his touch but she didn't show any sign of pain. He threw her off him and again they tumbled and struggled on the ground. I decided to try and read their lips when they began to argue. I couldn't see what Natalie had said but I was confused with what he said.

"If you lose, I will…" I managed to read before he turned away. Natalie studied him with delight and then she stopped struggling. _She let him win_, I remember thinking. He studied her with amusement before he walked off the floor.

A/N: all for now. Not much but the rest is coming.


End file.
